LIST OF PANELS

The policy capacity of a government is a key indicator and requisite of governance success. The term describes the preconditions a government requires in order to make sound policy choices and implement them effectively in achieving its potential to steer a governance mode. Policy capacity is at heart a function of  three competences or skills which affect the ability of governments in their relationships with other governance actors: analytical ones which allow policy alternatives to be effectively generated and investigated; managerial ones which allow state resources to be effectively brought to bear on policy issues; and political ones which allow policy-makers and managers the room to manouevre and support required to develop and implement their ideas, programs and plans (Wu et al 2010; Tiernan and Wanna 2006; Gleeson et al 2009; Gleeson et al 2011; Fukuyama 2013; Rotberg 2014). These skills or competences are crucial to policy and governance success. However they also rely on their availability and the availability of adequate resources to allow them to be mobilized. These resources or capabilities must exist at the individual level which allow individual policy workers (Colebatch 2006; Colebatch et al 2011) and managers (Howlett and Walker 2012) to participate in and contribute to designing, deploying, and evaluating policies. It includes not only their ability to analyse but also to learn and adapt to changes as necessary. Defining and operationalizing policy capacity is a very important, but only the first, step in applying the concept to the better understanding of policy-making and especially issues about the quality of policy-making and governance issues. The general idea, of course, is that higher levels of capacity are linked to superior policy outputs and outcomes while capacity deficits may be a major cause of policy failure and sub-optimal outcomes (Bullock 2001; Canadian Government 1996). The papers in this workshop are intended to address these issues and test this hypothesis. Some specific questions which individual papers may address include: ·           Are some components of capacity more important than others? For what? How do we know? ·           While we know the components of policy capacity vary by “level” (ie system, agency, individual), do they also vary by policy sector (Eg. Water, telecommunications)? And if so, in what way(s) and why? ·           Related to these, how can policy capacity and its components be measured? How problematic is this? ·           What are the implications of governments’ different policy capacities  for policy success and failure? For policy change? ·           And how can the policy capacity of governments be enhanced?               These are all important questions which need clarification and understanding in order for policy research in this important area of policy studies to move forward. This panel will outline several conceptions of policy capacity and explore their empirical manifestations

The policy capacity of a government is a key indicator and requisite of governance success. The term describes the preconditions a government requires in order to make sound policy choices and implement them effectively in achieving its potential to steer a governance mode. Policy capacity is at heart a function of  three competences or skills which affect the ability of governments in their relationships with other governance actors: analytical ones which allow policy alternatives to be effectively generated and investigated; managerial ones which allow state resources to be effectively brought to bear on policy issues; and political ones which allow policy-makers and managers the room to manouevre and support required to develop and implement their ideas, programs and plans (Wu et al 2010; Tiernan and Wanna 2006; Gleeson et al 2009; Gleeson et al 2011; Fukuyama 2013; Rotberg 2014). These skills or competences are crucial to policy and governance success. However they also rely on their availability and the availability of adequate resources to allow them to be mobilized. These resources or capabilities must exist at the individual level which allow individual policy workers (Colebatch 2006; Colebatch et al 2011) and managers (Howlett and Walker 2012) to participate in and contribute to designing, deploying, and evaluating policies. It includes not only their ability to analyse but also to learn and adapt to changes as necessary. Defining and operationalizing policy capacity is a very important, but only the first, step in applying the concept to the better understanding of policy-making and especially issues about the quality of policy-making and governance issues. The general idea, of course, is that higher levels of capacity are linked to superior policy outputs and outcomes while capacity deficits may be a major cause of policy failure and sub-optimal outcomes (Bullock 2001; Canadian Government 1996). The papers in this workshop are intended to address these issues and test this hypothesis.  References  Bullock H, Mountford J, Stanley R (2001) Better Policy-Making. London: Centre for Management and Policy Studies, Cabinet Office, United Kingdom. Canadian Government (1996) Strengthening Our Policy Capacity. Report of the Task Force on Strengthening the Policy Capacity of the Federal Government.  Colebatch, Hal K. “What Work Makes Policy?” Policy Sciences 39, no. 4 (November 2006): 309–321. Colebatch, Hal K., Robert Hoppe, and Mirko Noordegraaf, eds. Working for Policy. Amsterdam University Press, 2011. Fukuyama, Francis. “What Is Governance?” Governance, 2013, n/a–n/a. doi:10.1111/gove.12035. Gleeson, Deborah H., David G. Legge, and Deirdre O’Neill. “Evaluating Health Policy Capacity: Learning from International and Australian Experience.” Australia and New Zealand Health Policy 6, no. 1 (February 26, 2009) Gleeson, Deborah, David Legge, Deirdre O’Neill, and Monica Pfeffer. “Negotiating Tensions in Developing Organizational Policy Capacity: Comparative Lessons to Be Drawn.” Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice 13, no. 3 (June 2011): 237–263. Howlett, Michael, and Richard M Walker. “Public Managers in the Policy Process: More Evidence on the Missing Variable?” Policy Studies Journal 40, no. 2 (May 1, 2012): 211–233. Painter, M., and J. Pierre, eds. Challenges to State Policy Capacity: Global Trends and Comparative Perspectives. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Rotberg, Robert I. “Good Governance Means Performance and Results.” Governance, 2014, n/a–n/a. doi:10.1111/gove.12084. Tiernan, A., and Wanna, J. “Competence, Capacity, Capability: Towards Conceptual Clarity in the Discourse of Declining Policy Skills.” presented at the Govnet International Conference, Australian National University. Canberra: ANU, 2006. Wu, Xun, M. Ramesh, Michael Howlett, and Scott Fr